Hardwood markets are increasingly global, and understanding the role U.S. hardwood lumber plays in worldwide consumption and trade is valuable to timber investors, the hardwood industry, resource planners, and market analysts. Forest Service scientists have recently assessed factors affecting regional hardwood lumber consumption on a global scale. They determined the U.S. position in each of these categories and analyzed factors potentially affecting global hardwood lumber consumption such as population and Gross Domestic Product.

Exports have become a vital lumber market for hardwood sawmills in the United States because of the loss of domestic furniture manufacturing and the steep downturn in U.S. housing construction. Strong export markets for hardwood logs also can benefit timberland owners. Given the importance of export markets to demand for U.S. hardwoods, recent research sought to determine the competitive position of the United States in international hardwood lumber and logs markets, assessing the U.S. trade balance in these products. The United States has maintained a positive trade balance for both hardwood logs and lumber since 1990, but the global sources and destinations for these products have changed, sometimes in dramatic fashion.